December 11, 2020 | Excerpt from Port City Daily | Read the entire article here.
Extensive soil sampling at a section of the Navassa Superfund site found several portions of the area aren’t fit for residential use without remediation. In pink, portions of the site that failed to meet residential use standards. Image edited to fit dimensions. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy EPA)
NAVASSA — The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to redraw portions of the Navassa Superfund site after soil sampling found some sections of the former creosote plant are unsuitable for residential use.
In early 2020, the EPA recommended taking no action to remediate about 100 acres on the site, which would have freed up the former Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation for redevelopment.
Once the plans were revealed, Navassa residents and town leaders asked for the land to be considered for residential use; residential use increases the environmental standards the land must pass compared to more passive uses proposed at the site.
Environmental partners began a review of residential risk in May and began extensive soil sampling at the site in August.